Returning from lunch today my cats were quite interested in something. Hmmm.....I saw a long tail and thought it might be a huge snake or something, Turns out on closer inspection it was one of these: http://www.pbase.com/cokesmith/image/121230867. About 1 meter and quite beautiful.

Probably make a quick meal of my cats and kittens.

Are these common up here?

Thanks

Pleased you did not kill it,too many people on here will kill

any creature that has the cheek to enter their garden.

Not sure common up here or not as don't remember any

reports on here about sightings,but they are common down

the South.

regards Worgeordie

We got one of those that lives in the bushes at our condo development on the river.

Bloody thingy hisses away at me when I walk by in the morning to catch our boat lol. Big bastar d he is - eats very well, quite funny to watch as he strolls out onto the pier tongue in the air looking down at the fish below..

Very common in Bangkok. We had one not far from our home,maybe 2m in length,contained in a large, enclosed yard with a small dam,could have been a household pet. You could only ever see it from the overhead bridge which straddled the property and frankly that's about as close as I would ever want to get. Lumphini Park in Bangkok has quite a few where I have seen people feeding them,from a considerable distance !!

I saw one, sadly, with a broken back near intersection of Huay Kaew & Canal Road in CM. And in Bangkok not long ago, near Klong Toey in an apparently dirty little canal, was a magificent specimen nearly 2 metres long.

Wonderful creatures, and not designed for an urban environment, so I am very happy to hear of others doing ok at surviving.

I saw one happily swimming in a filthy klong in Bangkok a couple of years ago. He was about a meter long.

I believe there were a mating-pair living at Government-House, several years ago, moved-in just after PPP, to general amusement.

I've only seen one, out of the window of a passing-train, in ten years.

Used to see them around Kamphaeng Phet--and sadly dead as roadkill on the main Highway passing the town--common in Phuket,Phangna, Krabi also--but, up North--not sure??

Had one in our garden a few years ago. Stealing hen's eggs.....

Something killed all my ducks and dragged away most of them this week but think it was a mongoose as I've seen lots around San Sai. Never seen a monitor in CM but lots in BKK. I'm a little confused by the posters saying they see them as to where they are, I know this is the CM forum and know where some of you live but as others are mentioning different places in Thailand in this thread it might be helpful to mention what part your talking about too.

I see lots of people I would call a monitor lizard. Does that count?

Monitors are a type of lizard. They are very common in Thailand. BKK is full of them especially around the river. They can get over two meters and they will eat anything going. A bite would need attention as they carry massive doses of bacteria in their teeth. You often see them, floating on clumps of vegetation floating down the Chao Phraya. The Thai word for them is considered rude and to use it is unlucky, so Thais have an alternate term - but I don't remember what it is.

I knew a bloke in phangan who run one over in his car. His wife scraped it up, took it home and bunged it on the barbie. Unchuffingbelievable

I knew a bloke in phangan who run one over in his car. His wife scraped it up, took it home and bunged it on the barbie. Unchuffingbelievable

Nothing beats a tasty bit of roadkill.

.

Can't recall the name of the BKK park where there are loads and loads of them.

re

Can't recall the name of the BKK park where there are loads and loads of them.

its limpini park on suckhamvite road

i saw this 6 foot one in a klong near the golden mount in bangkok in april 04

but ive never seen or heard of one being seen up here before but getting some pics of one would make my day!

dave2

ps ... ill pm the op to see if he will tell me exactly where he saw it and ill try and get some pics of it to add to my pics of the 18 inch terrapin / turtle ? that lives in the moat

re

Can't recall the name of the BKK park where there are loads and loads of them.

its limpini park on suckhamvite road

i saw this 6 foot one in a klong near the golden mount in bangkok in april 04

but ive never seen or heard of one being seen up here before but getting some pics of one would make my day!

dave2

ps ... ill pm the op to see if he will tell me exactly where he saw it and ill try and get some pics of it to add to my pics of the 18 inch terrapin / turtle ? that lives in the moat

You mean to say you don't have a pic of the giant turtle that lives in the pond at Wat Umong? If it's still there.

re

Can't recall the name of the BKK park where there are loads and loads of them.

its limpini park on suckhamvite road

i saw this 6 foot one in a klong near the golden mount in bangkok in april 04

but ive never seen or heard of one being seen up here before but getting some pics of one would make my day!

dave2

ps ... ill pm the op to see if he will tell me exactly where he saw it and ill try and get some pics of it to add to my pics of the 18 inch terrapin / turtle ? that lives in the moat

Dave 2 See post 4 ......Lumphini Park,which covers a large area in Bangkok.Many people take photos of them...... quite a tourist attraction.

Similar creatures in Patpong too...beware

re

You mean to say you don't have a pic of the giant turtle that lives in the pond at Wat Umong? If it's still there.

a giant ? how big ? .. inches front to back of shell ?

not total body length

all ive got from wat umong is of these 8 / 9 inchers on a branch

dave2

re

You mean to say you don't have a pic of the giant turtle that lives in the pond at Wat Umong? If it's still there.

a giant ? how big ? .. inches front to back of shell ?

not total body length

all ive got from wat umong is of these 8 / 9 inchers on a branch

dave2

About a metre?

I've not been there for about 10 years, so it may no longer be.......

Just a reminder: I saw this Monitor Lizard near my house in Bo Sang near San Kampaeng. I am a bit isolated with lots of undeveloped land around me.